Fighting humidity

[Ninjaneer]

Howdy,

Has anyone ever refinished their gun with a Duracoat/Gunkote/Bearcoat/etc or hard chrome in order to fight corrosion due to carrying? I live in Houston and just recently got my CHL and have a blued 1911 and leather holsters (both OWB and IWB). At the end of the day I noticed very faint corrosion around the beavertail and grip area. I was OWB with an untucked button down shirt over a cotton t-shirt. I normally always wipe my guns down after handling, and normally consider them oily after cleaning/wiped.

Do you guys in Houston/around the gulf just drench your guns in oil? If you have refinished your firearm, what did you refinish it with and did you like it?

[mr surveyor]

it's taken several years, but I finally coated all of my more prized daily carry guns in stainless

Kimber stainless compact, Sig239 and most recently a S&W 637 to replace the rusty rossi I was sweating on in the field every day.

I got tired of having to baby the deteriorating bluing on the rossi and even thought about spending (actually wasting) the money to have it reblued or coated. I'm glad I made the decision to replace with stainless and alloy.

surv

[Mike1951]

I'm preparing to send two more pistols to Walter Birdsong for refinishing in his Black-T.

There is no more corrosion resistant finish in the world.

I need to find the Heinie night sights that I have for my Taurus PT1911 and I need to send the slide from my Kahr K-40 to Trijicon to replace the existing tritium vials. Then they are both off to Birdsong. His turnaround is currently about three months.

I don't recall the individual prices, but it was $285 to do both the 1911 and the K-40.

I have another K-40, which was stainless, that my perspiration was rusting like crazy. Birdsong refinished it about ten years ago and you can't make it rust now.

Stainless only rusts less. It is no protection against severe perspiration.

[Liberty]

Do you guys in Houston/around the gulf just drench your guns in oil? If you have refinished your firearm, what did you refinish it with and did you like it?

Here in Galveston I carry a stainless p95 and wipe it down with a silicone cloth at days in, I haven't found any rust yet.
edit: quote thingies

[Excaliber]

it's taken several years, but I finally coated all of my more prized daily carry guns in stainless

Kimber stainless compact, Sig239 and most recently a S&W 637 to replace the rusty rossi I was sweating on in the field every day.

I got tired of having to baby the deteriorating bluing on the rossi and even thought about spending (actually wasting) the money to have it reblued or coated. I'm glad I made the decision to replace with stainless and alloy.

surv

I'm with you. I sweat profusely in the heat, and experience with blued guns shows they'll last about 2 or 3 days before starting to show rust, even with daily wipedowns.

I carry stainless guns, or ones finished in an extremely rust resistant finish like Glock's tenifer treatment.

[boomerang]

I carry a Glock and have no problems with rust.

[TDDude]

I carry a blued Beretta and the only thing showing corrosion are the grip screws.

I carry a stainless version when I'm on my mountain bike but my daily carry is blue.

[wilder]

Does anyone have personal experience with the XD stainless as far as persperation resistance? I intend to carry an XD40sc when I get my plastic, but I do have some concerns about my girth (sweatiness) and the gun's finish.

[Excaliber]

Does anyone have personal experience with the XD stainless as far as persperation resistance? I intend to carry an XD40sc when I get my plastic, but I do have some concerns about my girth (sweatiness) and the gun's finish.

No issues with my.45 service over about the last 9 months.

[hankintexas]

Does anyone have personal experience with the XD stainless as far as persperation resistance? I intend to carry an XD40sc when I get my plastic, but I do have some concerns about my girth (sweatiness) and the gun's finish.

I also carry an XD40SC IWB. I have had no visible signs of rust or finish damage. I wipe My handgun down every night when I get home. I also remove it from the holster. This lets the holster dry completly.

[NcongruNt]

Well, I've posted on a similar thread ( http://www.texasshooting.com/TexasCHL_F ... 6&p=201260 ) regarding Microlon Gun Juice and its great properties. I've not used it primarily as a rust inhibitor (one of its selling points) until now, but I will say that the guns I've treated with it (including my primary carry) have not shown a hint of rust since they were treated. My Mosin-Nagant 91/30 tended to take on surface rust in the barrel and outside of the receiver if not kept oiled every couple of weeks. I scrubbed the bore and cleaned (with hoppe's #9, windex, and CLP) until it came out absolutely clean with all of the cleaners, then treated the gun with Microlon. In the months since then, it has not shown any signs of rust, and is much easier to clean.

Recently, I decided to try the Gun Juice as a rust preventer. My extra carry mags have been accumulating rust on the faces that ride above the mag carrier against my shirt, as well as on the whole exterior of my BUG mag (which either rides in a pocket or the weak-side compartment of my 5.11 holster shirt under my armpit), so I thought I would de-rust them using 0000 steel wool and Blue Wonder Gun Cleaner (which worked wonderfully, BTW). Once they were free of rust, I wiped them dry and treated the outside surfaces with Gun Juice - apply a coat, heat with a hair dryer for 20-30 seconds until dry, repeat 7-10 times (20 is recommended for stainless, BTW). Previous to this, I had de-rusted the mags and simply oiled them up, and the rust would return within about 2-3 days. It has been about a week so far, and the rust has not returned.

I also had problems with rust on my BUG (an LCP) when carried in the holster shirt while doing outdoor work - there is a thread about it here: http://www.texasshooting.com/TexasCHL_F ... 7&p=182461 . Since I was treating the mags already, I went ahead and did the same for the LCP, which had the same rust problems return after a couple of months, particularly on exposed exterior face of the barrel/chamber. I treated the entire gun in the same manner as the magazines. So far, I have not seen the rust return here, either. Additionally, the finish on both the mags and the gun is better, and is somewhat slick (but not wet, as it's a permanent dry lubricant).

I will report back after a while longer and let everyone know how it is holding up, but given my experience with the 91/30, I expect the results to be unchanged.

If you decide to try this out, do not be surprised at the appearance of the finish while treating your gun/mags/whatever. While the treatment is being applied, it's going to look ugly. The reason is that the Gun Juice acts as a solvent/suspension, getting all of the crud out of the metal as it is going on. This will result in what looks similar to an oil slick on a puddle as the stuff dries. Once you finish the treatment, all of this stuff will simply wipe away, and you will have a uniform finish underneath. I've found that the stuff actually improved the appearance of the finish on my guns, probably because it has removed all of the junk from it, and all that is left is the metal and the bluing (or parkerizing or whatever your finish happens to be). The actual surface texture of the finish (matte blue, shiny blue, polished aluminum, parkerizing, etc.) has remained unchanged in all of the guns I have treated so far.